Deloitte Middle East adds Jason Riche to head up tax technology function

Deloitte has bolstered its tax technology services line in the Middle East with the recruitment of Jason Riche from the firm’s Canadian branch to head up its Middle East tax technology practice.

Described as one of Deloitte’s foremost tax innovation leaders, Riche has been with the firm for more than 15 years, most recently serving as Indirect Tax leader and Partner with Deloitte’s Canadian operations in Alberta. He now joins Deloitte Middle East as a partner and head of the Big Four firm’s local Tax Technology function, to be based out its DIFC-located office in Dubai.

“I am pleased to welcome Jason to the Middle East tax practice,” Deloitte’s Middle East tax leader Nauman Ahmed said of Riche’s transfer. “Deloitte is a global leader in tax technology and we are making a bold play on technology in the Middle East region and we are pleased to have Jason leading this for us… Building a high performing tax function is critical to tax transformation success.”

Ahmed, a nearly 30-year veteran of the Middle East tax domain, continued; “Effective use of technology, including data management, and analytics, is a key piece. Deloitte's dedicated team of tax technologists bring a wealth of technology and tax knowledge, and a disciplined approach, to create added value. We are actively engaging with advanced analytics, robotics and artificial intelligence.”According to the firm, Riche will focus on discovering and enabling new disruptive technologies in the local tax space, while day-to-day serving some of the firm’s largest clients in their efforts to adopt and implement new indirect tax technology. Riche’s Deloitte Middle East profile reads; “Despite being both a lawyer and an accountant, these days, Jason spends his time building robots and designing technology architecture.”

In addition to Riche joining from Canada, Deloitte’s Middle East branch recently elevated Haryati Hamzah to the position of director of its Tax Technology division. Hamzah, who joined the firm in the UAE last year after an earlier stint as a Senior Manager with Deloitte in the UK, has over two decades of experience in the tax and management consulting domain, working across the world for among others KPMG in Australia, Arthur Andersen in Singapore, and Accenture in London.

Crossing from PwC, Hamzah was reportedly brought in to assist with technology-driven VAT implementations in the GCC, an area of expertise she shares with Riche, with provincial VAT having already been introduced across Canada. As the tax continues its roll-out in the GCC states, with Bahrain the next jurisdiction in line, the region’s tax regime is becoming ever more complex to navigate – reflected in the ongoing bolstering of expertise among the local Big Four firms. Recently, Deloitte introduced an Arabic-language version of its VAT support app for the GCC.